And A Happy New Year
by littleblackcupcake
Summary: Threeshot set after BotL. Annabeth is visiting Percy over winter break and shows him pictures from her school trip to Paris. He sees a photo of her with a French boy. Drama ensues. Percabeth.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Okay, I'm trying something new with this fic. (For my apology for being away for so long, read my profile.) I haven't written any Percy Jackson fanfiction before, at least not any that I've shown to the public. I think Annabeth came out a little too Hermione-ish, but oh well. If no one likes it, I'll go back to writing Twilight, but I'm kinda in love with PJO right now. Anyway, this takes place after BotL. Annabeth went on a school trip to Paris and is visiting New York over winter break. Right now she's visiting Percy.**

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"Come _on, _Percy. There's only a few more," she said.

"No way! I already looked at way too many pictures," I insisted. "How can you take six hundred and twenty eight pictures in ten days?"

"I wanted to remember it," Annabeth said. "I love Paris. Okay, if you look at the rest of them with me, we can do whatever you want for an hour."

"Two hours."

She glared at me for a moment, then said, "Okay."

"Really?"

"Sure... as long as it's not something stupid, Seaweed Brain."

I used to hate it when she called me that, but now...well, it wasn't so bad, I guess. Maybe. "Okay, fine," I relented. "Finish the slideshow already."

Annabeth smirked and pressed play, and French music started playing. "Look, there's me and Jenna at the Eiffel Tower," she said excitedly, pointing at a picture of her with her arms around a tiny Asian girl, the Eiffel Tower standing tall in the background. "It's 324 meters tall, or--"

"1,024 feet. And it weighs 10,000 tons, and it's made of 18,038 pieces of puddled iron, and it was built in 1889 by Gustave Eiffel," I finished automatically. "And it's one of your top ten monuments of all time." Oops.

Annabeth glanced over at me. She looked surprised, but kept going. "Um.. right. And there we all are at the Champs-Élysées...and the Arc de Triomphe." She looked at me expectantly. Okay, time to play dumb.

"What?"

"Don't you have a ton of random facts to spew to prove that I talk too much?"

"Well.. actually, I kind of only know stuff about the Eiffel Tower. And the Empire State Building, and the Hoover Dam, and a couple others...just the ones I knew were your favorites."

"So.. you just went and memorized a bunch of facts about buildings that I like to... to what, exactly? To make me think you actually paid attention to what I said?" She looked confused, but also kind of mad, and hurt.

"No!" Crap. "It's just... I only remember the ones that you really seemed to like. I wasn't doing it on purpose or anything..." I trailed off.

"What, you mean like subconsciously?" she asked. She still didn't look like she believed me.

"Um.. kind of?"

"Forget it, Percy. Let's just finish looking at the pictures."

That went well.

The next set of pictures was pretty boring, just a lot of shots of her friends in various cafes, parks, and museums. "I didn't know they let you take pictures in there," I said, trying to break the awkward silence.

"Of course they do. How else would people get pictures of the Joconde?"

"Uh.. the what?"

"The Mona Lisa, Seaweed Brain." She rolled her eyes. She still sounded annoyed, but a lot more willing to talk. Maybe that was the way to get her to relax - make some stupid mistake and let her correct me.

We didn't talk much for the next forty or so pictures, but it wasn't as awkward as before. Then we came to a picture of her sitting on the banks of some river with another of her friends. She was laughing and trying to grab the camera away from whoever was taking the picture, and the Eiffel Tower behind them was lit up for the night, illuminating her golden hair.

"That's a really pretty picture," I blurted out. "Oh, Zeus." I heard thunder rumble.

"Huh?" She looked over at me like I was crazy.

"I mean, your hair is really shiny, and, uh.. Stupid ADHD." Gah. Well, this is just wonderful.

To my complete surprise and confusion, she started cracking up.

"Wait, why are you laughing at me?" She officially thinks I'm an idiot. Great.

"No...Seaweed Brain...your face...it just..." She couldn't stop giggling.

"Oh, shut up," I said irritably. "Okay, you can stop laughing! It's not that funny!"

"Wait....just...give me a minute...." She took several huge gasps of air. "Sorry," she grinned. "It's just...you looked so scared, like I was going to punch you or something."

Now I was staring at the picture, having just noticed something. "Who's that guy you're with?"

"What's that, Seaweed Brain?" She was still smiling, but I wasn't as I pointed to the guy sitting next to her in the picture with his arm around her.

"Oh...that's Jacques. He's just a guy I met in Paris."

"Oh, okay," I said, trying to look like I couldn't care less who hugged or didn't hug Annabeth. Because I didn't care. Not at all. It's not like I _like _her or anything. I mean, of course I like her! But only as a friend. Honestly. No romantic feelings here.

No, seriously.

We finished the slideshow, and she closed her laptop and straightened up. "Okay, Seaweed Brain," she said, pulling her hair back into a ponytail. "Your turn. What d'you want to do?" She turned around and looked at me. "What's up?"

"What? Nothing!" Oops. I was still thinking about Jack or Jake or whatever his name was. I unclenched my fists and tried to rearrange my features into a normal expression.

"Um, obviously it's something. You look...like you did when you punched Ares." She stood up and put her hands on her hips. "Just tell me."

"I was just thinking about you...and that Jack guy," I muttered.

"Yeah? What about Jacques?" she said, sounding defensive.

"Just, uh...you looked pretty cozy there..."

"Not that it's any of your business, but we had plenty reason to be 'cozy,' as you put it. We went dancing while we were there."

Uh, what?

"You went dancing? With a guy you hardly knew?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact, we did. Why do you care? I don't have a fit when you go out with that Rachel chick, so this shouldn't be a big deal for you either!"

"Rachel and I are just friends! And it's _not_ a big deal, I just don't want you to get hurt. I mean, you only knew him for ten days!"

"Jacques and I are_ just friends_," she sneered. "What, so I'm not allowed to have friends who aren't demigods?"

"Calm down! I'm not telling you what to do!"

"Really? Because it sure sounds like it." She grabbed her Daedalus laptop off the table and stalked to the door. "You know what? Send me an Iris-message when you're feeling more mature. I'll be at camp."

"No, wait, Annabeth, don't--"

Too late. The door slammed shut behind her. She was gone.

I threw myself back on the couch and punched the cushion next to me.

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**A/N: So... Love it? Hate it? Let me know what you think!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Ta da! Second chapter posted in three days. Third should be up soon too. You get a little action in this chapter (romantic action, that is) and there will be more in the next. I got a couple of unsigned reviews, so to answer your questions, yes, this is a Percabeth story and there will be romance. *makes kissy noises* And to PiesAwesomeness, since I can't reply to you directly: Thanks! Glad you like it and hopefully you'll like the next part too!**

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I woke up in the Big House. Thank the gods Chiron let me stay here, or else I would have had to find a hotel. I could have gone back to San Francisco, but finding a flight seemed too hard to do after fighting with Percy.

Now I was staring up at a whitewashed ceiling and wishing I hadn't stormed out. Or at least that I could have come up with a better cover story than that. _Jacques_? More like Jack. Yes, we went dancing. My whole school group went with us. It was purely coincidence that he and I hadn't ever talked before the trip.

Okay, I admit it. I was trying to make Percy jealous.

Try to see it my way. I've had to put up with Rachel for a year now. Not that she's been with us that whole time, but... he knew her. I know she's thinking about him all the time, and he's probably thinking about her. After all, she's pretty. And I know he likes having a mortal girl to talk to, when it gets to be too much. And yes, I envy her.

Look. I've known Percy for nearly four years now. I think we know each other pretty well, after all we did together. We've traveled across the country together, twice now. And I think, maybe, I...

Percy was being a brat, it was true. He had no reason to get angry about who I did things with. Even if Jacques and I had kissed, it wouldn't have been any of his business to start yelling about it. I guess my plan worked a little too well.

But now I know that he cares.

I care about him, too. A lot. That's normal for friends, right?

Who am I kidding? I like him. As in, I, Annabeth Chase, am officially crushing on Percy Jackson. I'm crushing on his curly black hair and his sea glass-green eyes and the way he stumbles for words sometimes. I love that he's brave enough to take on the Lord of the Underworld and the leader of the Titans and the guy who used to be like an older brother to him. I feel like we're in the same boat now.

And I think I might love him.

There, I said it. Even if it was only to myself.

Anyway, we're even now, jealousy-wise.

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I found her in the arena. Good thing I got Paul to let me borrow the car. He's just starting to trust me not to blow it up. Hopefully no monsters squish it or anything.

She was in the middle of sticking a straw dummy with her dagger. I figured I should probably wait for her to finish before trying to talk to her. I wasn't really in the mood for dismemberment. Instead, I coughed, hopefully alerting her to my presence without saying, "Please stick that sharp pointy thing in me!"

She tensed up, and after a couple of seconds, she pulled her dagger from the dummy and stuck in back in her belt. "What do you want?" She didn't turn around as she said it, so it was hard to tell if she was really mad or just tired from the physical exercise.

"I, uh, wanted to talk about what happened yesterday," I said.

"Go ahead." She was still facing the dummy, its straw guts spilling out onto the floor in front of her. "Talk."

"Look, Annabeth, I don't want to be fighting with you. And the only reason I freaked out about Jacques is...I was jealous." I can't believe I just said that. I can't _believe _I just said that.

"What do I..." She turned around and trailed off, staring at me. "Okay, why would you be jealous?"

"You sounded so happy when you were talking about Paris, and about...him... I'm sure you'd rather be in Paris right now with _Jacques._" It came out sounding all phlegm-y and French when I said it, which was fine by me. "How would you feel if you were all the time thinking I'd rather be somewhere else than hanging out with you?"

She was going to storm out again. I could feel it. Or maybe she would punch me, for a change.

Instead, she surprised me.

"I feel that way all the time, Seaweed Brain," she said. "You think I haven't seen how Rachel looks at you? For the gods' sake, she willingly entered an underground maze full of monsters hell-bent on destroying us, just to help you out! She likes you. A lot. And...she's really pretty, too, and nice."

I tried to interrupt with something along the lines of "Meh fleh fluh?!" But she kept talking.

"And give me a little credit. I know you weren't stranded on some random island. You were on Ogygia with Calypso_._ I know you care about her, or you wouldn't have kept her moonlace in your window box."

"Wait, how did you know I have a window box?"

She blushed. "Okay, so maybe I did a little...stalking the other day. I was trying to see if you were home and could let me in! You had all the doors locked!"

"You were looking in my window again?" Now I was blushing. "That's..." I was going to say creepy, but she looked really embarrassed. And actually, it was kind of nice of her not to mention it. Until now, anyway. So I tried to make her laugh instead.

"Ha ha, Annabeth's a stalker," I said, smirking. "You and Edward Cullen should meet up sometime, compare techniques."

"If that's how you feel, maybe I should go back to Paris and visit Jacques," she said. Okay, note to self: Comparing Annabeth to sparkly vampires is a bad idea. Emphasis on bad.

"You can't do that," I said. "Think of all the things you'd miss about New York! The Statue of Liberty, for one thing."

"They have one of those in Paris too," she said.

"Oh yeah. Well, they don't have New York Pretzels!" Ha. Let's see her argue with that one.

"Maybe not, but they have crêpes, which are pretty amazing, and the best ice cream I've ever tasted. Both of which satisfy my sweet tooth. What else you got?" she challenged.

"All the crazy street performers?"

"I wouldn't miss anything that reminds me of R– I wouldn't miss crazy people," she corrected herself. Was she going to say Rachel? I thought she...well, not _liked_ Rachel, but was willing to put up with her.

"Come on, there has to be something you would miss," I pleaded.

"Nope. Not a one."

"Seriously? Not one little tiny thing to keep you from leaving me here?"

"Well... Maybe there is one thing I would miss."

"Which?"

"You have to guess," she smiled.

"Um...Central Park?"

"No!"

"Okay, okay! Rockefeller?"

"Nope."

"The steps at the Met?"

"Nuh-uh."

"Uh, I don't know... the taxis?" She shook her head. "Can't you just tell me? I'm out of guesses."

She took a deep breath. "I would miss you, Seaweed Brain."

While I stood, frozen, she looked down and said, "And Percy? His name is Jack, not Jacques. We went dancing on the school trip. I only danced with him in a group of my friends. I don't think we said more than twenty words to each other."

"Wha...buh..." Okay, forming actual words would be great right about now. "You mean...you were...making me jealous on purpose?"

Why would she try to make me jealous? My head was reeling.

"Yeah. Percy..." Then she looked straight at me. "Seaweed Brain?" She put her hands on my shoulders and leaned forward.

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**A/N: Muahahaha! Cliffie! Does she kiss him? Does she slap him? Does he pass out and she has to feed him nectar and ambrosia with a spoon again? Do Chiron's relatives show up and blast them with paintball guns? The faster you review, the faster I'll post and you can find out!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N will be at end, because I know you all want to find out what happens!**

_She looked straight at me. "Seaweed Brain?" She put her hands on my shoulders and leaned forward._

"Seaweed Brain? Are you okay?" She shook my shoulders a little. "Hey!" I was kind of in shock.

Because I understood.

Annabeth liked me. I liked her. So... Oh yeah! I'm supposed to kiss her.

I put my hands on her waist and leaned in. She pulled back and said, "Clarisse."

"Uh...that's kinda awkward."

"No, Clarisse!" She pointed behind me, to where Clarisse stood, spear drawn, with a couple of goons from the Ares cabin.

"Well, well, looks like you two are having fun," she said, not nicely.

"What do you want?" It came out as a snarl. I was really, really, really annoyed. More annoyed than Apollo when you interrupted one of his haikus. More annoyed than Aphrodite would be if you spilled your drink on her. I think I may have been as mad as Zeus was when he thought Poseidon had me steal his master bolt, but unfortunately, I didn't have the power of the skies with me to knock Clarisse senseless.

She sneered. "Chiron thought you two lovebirds might want to know...the Hunters have decided to pay us a visit." She turned and marched out of the arena. Her cabin mates followed, pausing to glare back at us.

My hand moved to Riptide of its own accord. Beside me, I saw Annabeth, likewise, pull her dagger from her boot.

"You think its true?" My anger had faded. Now I was just worried – scratch that, I was terrified – for the safety of Grover, if he found out they were here.

"We should find out. Let's go see Chiron." Her voice shook slightly, possibly still with anger at Clarisse for the interruption, but her hand was steady as she reached out and squeezed mine. I squeezed back. This was different from the other times we'd held hands. Then, it was just to take comfort in the fact that we were both there, both still alive. Now...it was more.

We dropped our hands and walked away from the arena, towards Chiron and the Big House. "You think they're all here?" Annabeth asked. I could hear the hope in her voice, though she was trying to hide it.

I didn't know what to say. "I don't know, but I hope she's here, too," I answered finally as we passed the volleyball courts. We were almost at the Big House.

"Oh my gods, Percy!" She grabbed my arm, hard.

"First of all, ow." She let up some of the pressure, but still held on tightly. "What?"

"Look!" I followed her pointing finger to where a tall girl with short black hair, a chain around her wrist, and a silver bow slung across the back of her leather jacket leaned against a post on the porch, talking to Grover. She was the only Hunter who would talk to the poor satyr. He was facing away from us, obviously engrossed in conversation, but Thalia noticed us. She poked Grover to get him to turn around, then started walking toward us.

"Hey, Wise Girl, Bubble Boy," she grinned.

"Thalia!" Annabeth said before I could say anything, shooting a look at me that clearly said, "Call her names! Don't let her have all the fun!" Or maybe it said, "Don't even think about calling her Pinecone Face. You really want to start a fight now?" Or possibly, "Want to go get Coke and Mentos and see who can make the biggest explosion?" It's always hard to tell what girls are thinking, but it probably wasn't the second one.

"Pinecone Face," I said cordially. "What?" Annabeth was glaring at me. I guess I must have misinterpreted her look.

"So," Thalia said, smiling like she had an inside joke with herself. "What's up with you two?"

She was staring at my arm, which Annabeth was still holding on to. We quickly let go. "Nothing."

"Nothing at all," Annabeth confirmed.

"Not a thing."

"Really?" Thalia asked. "Because Clarisse told everyone that you two were kissing in the woods."

I gritted my teeth. Clarisse was dead meat. "We weren't in the woods, we were in the arena," I corrected.

"So you admit you were kissing?"

"No, we were not!" Annabeth hissed. Her eyes looked like hurricanes, and the set of her jaw made her look like she would bite your head off if she got mad enough. When she got like this, I got scared. Luckily, she wasn't mad at me. It kinda hurt, though. I thought she wanted to kiss me, too.

"Okay, okay," Thalia said, though she didn't look like she believed us. "I was going to say, 'Congratulations, sure took you long enough,' but whatever."

"We'll catch up with you _later_, okay? I think we need to go have a little chat with Clarisse." _Before Annabeth explodes_, I added in my head.

"Fine with me," Thalia said, still smiling. "I have to help move the Hunters into Cabin 8. See you around." She walked off in the general direction of the cabins.

"Annabeth? Annabeth, chill." She was literally shaking in anger. I practically dragged her into the Big House.

"Sorry," she said as we both sat down on a couch in a side room where, hopefully, we could finish our conversation in private. "It's just...we didn't! And even if we had kissed, it wouldn't be any of her business, or anyone else's."

"I know," I said. She was calming down. "But...would it really have been so bad if we kissed?"

"What? No, of course not!"

"It's just, when you were getting all mad, it seemed like you were glad that nothing happened."

She shook her head and smiled a little. "Seaweed Brain," she said. Then she leaned closer to me. "Trust me," she whispered, "I _really_ wish we had been able to do this before."

"Do–?"

And then she kissed me.

**A/N: Aww. I wasn't going to have them kiss, and let it be a "funny" ending, with Grover jumping out from behind the couch screaming, "NOOO!! MY EYES! LEMME OUT!!" or something along those lines, but it was just too cute... So! Notes to anonymous reviewers! Percabeth4ever13, thanks! That was a fun line to write. Pottergrl101, aw sorry :] Cliffies are my thing! Sometimes, anyway. Austin Espinosa, you were right! Though probably not in the way you were expecting. Stars, Oi, Any, Ppl, and Hi: here's the update! So... you all know I love reviews! If you think I should keep writing Percy Jackson fanfiction, tell me, okay? And if I suck, you should tell me that too. Always glad to hear about and correct any mistakes. By the way, there's a Harry Potter poll on my page for any who are interested. So... go vote!**


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